


Sunny Day

by what_a_dork_fish



Series: Cheriks [17]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dresses, Fluff, Genderfluid Character, I will continue writing trans Charles until it becomes a common and respected thing, Trans Charles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 02:21:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14990660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/what_a_dork_fish/pseuds/what_a_dork_fish
Summary: Another dress fic because I can't get enough.





	Sunny Day

It wasn’t a secret, but Erik was still surprised to see Raven walking next to a very pretty girl who, when they got closer, turned out to be Charles with makeup in a dress.

Charles smiled at Erik’s stare. “It’s just a dress kind of day,” Charles said comfortably.

Since that flirty summer dress looked much cooler than Erik’s own jeans and button-up, he had to agree. Not that Erik would ever wear one; he knew he’d look ridiculous. But Charles looked so comfortable that it was hard to think of him as the solidly masculine Charles Xavier.

Then Erik remembered; he was genderfluid. So he was probably a girl today. So should Erik still call him—her—them—Charles? What pronouns did he—they—she use today?

Then he spotted the little nametag on the strap of Charles’ backpack; “Charlotte, she/her”. And he felt on firm ground again.

“You look nice,” Erik blurted.

Charlotte beamed at him. She’d put on lipstick, matte, and it was even redder than her natural lips. “Thank you,” she said.

“We’re gonna be late,” Raven sighed, glancing at her watch. While Charlotte wore a pretty white vintage-inspired dress with cherries dotted on it, Raven just wore a black sports bra and black men’s basketball shorts, the latter probably “borrowed” from Hank. Black looked good against her dark blue skin, but it must be hell temperature-wise.

“Walk with us,” Charlotte told Erik. Since he was going in the same general direction anyway, Erik agreed.

There were jeers, and wolf-whistles, but very few. Charlotte was so calm and comfortable in herself that Erik marveled, and glared fiercely at the men who called Charlotte names and talked about how it was a waste for a man to have such nice legs.

But Charlotte wasn’t a man, Charlotte was herself, and she sailed past, unruffled, which seemed to make the men who catcalled angry—but they did not do anything about it. Probably because Erik and Raven flanked her, guardians against the creeps.

When they reached the lecture hall, Charlotte smiled up at Erik again, and he realized—not for the first time, if he were to be honest—that he would do anything to make that smile happen again. “Thank you,” she repeated.

Erik nodded, and left to find his own classroom.

~

He, Charlotte, Hank, and Darwin all met up for lunch that day, and Hank and Darwin took it in stride. Then again, they’d had longer to get used to it than Erik. Hell, it seemed everyone was used to it, even the freshies.

Erik used Charlotte’s passionate monologue on the various genetic strains she’d been studying lately as an excuse to stare at her and try to figure out what had changed. Well, she wore makeup now; and it seemed to make her jaw softer, her cheeks rounder, her eyes bigger. Her eyeliner was sharp, and her eyeshadow was a soft pink. Her hair looked wavier, too.

She was just as attractive to him as the decidedly male Charles. But he’d never had a chance, and he never would, so he wouldn’t try.

He looked away to see Hank and Darwin shooting him sly looks. He glared back. Hank looked properly ashamed, but Darwin smirked, and interrupted Charlotte oh so gently with, “Hey, by the way, where’d you get that dress? It looks great.”

Charlotte had stopped and was staring at him blankly, coming out her Lecture Mode, then smiled (Erik was _not_ jealous that she wasn’t smiling at him). “Thanks! One of my friends in the fashion design course made it for me as part of her project,” she explained, “And I modeled it for her class this morning. She said I could keep it. Speaking of which, did you really “lend” Raven your shorts or did she steal them?” Charlotte asked Hank.

Hank sighed heavily, looking depressed. Then again, he usually did. “She stole them,” he answered. “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to practice without my uniform.”

“Oh, stop whining, you big baby,” Raven snapped, startling everyone except Charlotte, who must’ve felt her coming. Raven leaned down and kissed Hank’s cheek, making him blush, and dropped the shorts in his lap. She was wearing bright pink cotton short shorts now, and Erik guessed she must have borrowed them from Emma. “Budge up, Lottie. I have ten minutes to eat.”

Charlotte scooted down the bench, which put her closer to Erik, and Raven sat and began to wolf her sandwich. Erik almost blushed like Hank, because Charlotte was close enough that her arm brushed his with every movement. He should really scoot down, too. He should give her more room. Move it, Lehnsherr. Move. It.

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t even lean away. He liked the brush of her arm too much. So he just focused on his food.

The others left. Neither Charlotte nor Erik had classes directly after lunch, so they simply sat there. Erik wanted to speak, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. Damn it, he was supposed to be over the tongue-tied stage! Charlotte may not be the same as Charles, but fundamentally they were, at their core, the same person. Just because they changed their name and pronouns didn’t mean they were two separate souls. She was Charlotte, he was Charles, they were Charlie, it didn’t matter.

So why was he so flustered?

“Erik?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you not like me like this?”

Erik turned his head to look at Charlotte, surprised. She looked… nervous. Anxious. Unhappy. And that _hurt_.

“I like you no matter what,” Erik answered firmly. “I don’t care what gender you are. This is just… new.”

Charlotte smiled, her beautiful smile, exactly the same as always. “Thank you,” she said softly.


End file.
